Executive Director of Emergency Management

RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE POSITION

Reporting to the senior vice president of administration and finance and chief financial officer, the executive director of emergency management is responsible for all aspects of the emergency management and business continuity of operations for Texas Tech University (TTU). The executive director leads and manages all emergency management and business continuity planning, incident action plan development for campus events, and education and training activities for the TTU community. This includes planning, implementing, and evaluating disaster drills, preparing and maintaining resources for emergency management and business continuity, and developing and maintaining an emergency management and business continuity budget. The executive director oversees the associate managing director for emergency management and the fire marshal director and manages a budget of approximately $450k.

Essential functions include:

• Oversees emergency management and business continuity initiatives for TTU, including developing, implementing, and maintaining all plans, protocols, and procedures.
• Develops, implements, and conducts annual reviews and updates of TTU’s emergency operations and business continuity plans, including all associated annexes. Develops new annexes as needed to address revised hazard vulnerability assessment and new or different hazards and threats. Assists partners in developing and updating plans in which TTU is a stakeholder, such as the hazard mitigation plan.
• Develops, implements, and maintains campus safety plans, procedures, and protocols for large and special events. Ensures campus safety is equipped and prepared to support university events with monitoring, crowd control, and security.
• Ensures the annual emergency and business continuity preparedness exercises, drills, and trainings are scheduled and effectively conducted. Maintains after-action reporting processes and reviews to improve plans, processes, or protocols where necessary, including data and metrics.
• Serves as primary emergency operations center director during TTU’s incident responses, serving in an on-call role with 24/7 availability. Provides support for incident commanders and TTU officials. Coordinates university response to all emergencies, including medical emergencies, bomb threats, fire alarm activations, and other similar events following emergency response procedures. Assist with coordinating emergency notifications and communications through the university’s alert system.
• Serves as university representative for coordination with local, state, regional, and federal agencies related to emergency management. Works with vendors brought in to support emergency management. Collaborates with the Texas Tech University System office of risk management, Texas Tech police department, environmental health and safety, and other TTU departments.
• Oversees campus fire marshal department.

QUALIFICATIONS AND CHARACTERISTICS

The successful candidate will have a bachelor’s degree in a related area plus five years of progressively responsible management experience (additional education may substitute for experience on a year-for-year basis). In addition, the executive director will have five or more years of relevant emergency management and business continuity experience, including extensive knowledge of emergency response procedures and the ability to apply that knowledge in various emergency, crisis, and business continuity scenarios. Excellent interpersonal skills with demonstrated ability to work with a diverse population while maintaining a culture of professionalism, inclusion, efficiency, and positivity are also required. The new executive director must be a Certified Emergency Manager (CEM) or hold a Master Firefighter Certification and have the ability to obtain a CEM within two years of beginning work at TTU.

Preferred qualifications include excellent written and verbal communication and presentation skills communicating to all levels of employees within a diverse work environment and a demonstrated ability to exercise alertness and sound judgment in emergency situations, including maintaining leadership, professionalism, and composure in stressful situations. Further, the ability to write comprehensive reports and maintain relevant metrics and work nights and/or weekends is also preferred.

In addition to the stated qualifications and characteristics, TTU stakeholders identified the following knowledge, skills, and abilities as important for the executive director of emergency management position:

• Successful experience creating and implementing emergency management programs, plans, and training within complex organizations.
• Forward-thinking, aware of trends and best practices, and how to effectively incorporate these into the campus community.
• Demonstrated hands-on experience with real, large-scale emergencies and/or crises.
• Adept at conceptualizing and implementing a complete emergency management program for higher education.
• Serve as an advocate for the office and its needs.
• Possess solid coaching and mentoring skills to assist in the further development of office staff.
• Capacity to command a room through demonstrated confidence, knowledge, experience, and strength of presence.
• A strong community builder and collaborator, capable of building bridges between departments, faculty, staff, students, and local, regional, and state agencies.
• A strategic thinker who can see both short- and long-term issues and develop appropriate solutions.
• Possess a solid philosophy regarding emergency/crisis communications.
• Demonstrated ability to coordinate emergency preparedness training and drills for all levels of stakeholders across the institution.
• Innovative technology experience to further enhance emergency management efforts increasing efficiency and streamlining processes.
• A commitment to serving and working with diverse populations and demonstrated alignment with the University’s strategic priorities.
• Capacity to continually evaluate policies and procedures using knowledge obtained through drills or events to inform change.

EXPECTATIONS AND MEASURES OF SUCCESS

To be successful in this position, the executive director will:

• Position the office as an integrated component, embedded into the life of the institution, serving as the emergency management resource experts.
• Train, coach, and support the emergency management staff, instilling a culture of evaluation and improvement.
• Collaborate with campus leadership to develop and implement new ideas and initiatives, including emergency management technology and business continuity platforms.
• Engage strategically with all levels of the campus community, leading efforts to conduct training to include emergency-specific practices and scenarios, ensuring every department understands its role and what is expected of them in an emergency.
• Ensure the president’s executive leadership team members are well-trained in their specific emergency roles and responsibilities.
• Educate stakeholders about the mission of the office and how it contributes to the campus community through emergency planning, preparedness, and business continuity plans.
• Ensure the appropriate infrastructure is in place and all policies, procedures, and documents are established and easily understandable.
• Develop and maintain strong partnerships with local, state, regional, and federal agencies.